


Won't Let You Be the One I Live Without

by Ithinkwehaveanemergency



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: FBI Agent Stiles Stilinski, Future Fic, Good Theo Raeken, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oblivious, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 04:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/pseuds/Ithinkwehaveanemergency
Summary: Stiles and Theo in a future where they have to work together often to do Stiles' job, and feelings are involved.  So are witches.Or, pointless Steo fluff that makes no sense.Title from Death Cab For Cutie's "Near/Far"





	Won't Let You Be the One I Live Without

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tabbytabbytabby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/gifts).



_ *Klink* _

 

_ *Woosh* _

 

_ *Tictictic* _

 

It's past midnight.

 

Stiles has had it up to his fucking eyebrows with this stakeout.

 

He narrows his eyes in disdain at the harsh blue light, the source of the gaming sounds, emanating from the passenger seat.

 

“Theo.”  Stiles hisses and smacks Theo’s shoulder with the back of his hand.  Theo makes no move to stop playing the Marvel RPG on his phone. “Theo, you're supposed to be listening for the witches.”

 

“I am.”  Theo answers, still not looking up from his phone.  “But I am also trying to defeat Kingpin.”

 

“You can't just… sit here in the car with me?  Doing what you're supposed to do? Or at least do something that keeps me entertained too?”  Stiles glares at the side of Theo’s face. The shadows cast against it make Theo look older than his 24 years.  The chimera looked much thinner than he had when they were teenagers, his jawline and cheekbones much more defined.  He seemed tired more often than not the past year and a half, the handful of times Stiles had seem him. “Of course not.  You have a reputation to uphold.”

 

They’d spent a significant amount of time together in the past few years, Stiles and Theo.  In the beginning they’d been downright friendly, slowly getting to the point where they knew each other better than most other members of the pack knew either of them.

 

Whenever Stiles calls Scott for supernatural help on an FBI case, he sends Theo.

 

After a few years, it changed.

 

They've all, as a pack, been through a lot together in the five years since Liam pulled the chimera from the ground.  Theo had already fought alongside Stiles all over the country by the time the human was an official FBI agent.

 

Then, Stiles had saved his life when they were both 22 years old and kidnapped by Monroe.

 

Stiles shot her that warm August night, in an abandoned warehouse located in the middle of the Arizona desert.

 

His first kill in the line of duty with the FBI.

 

Theo had made it so that Stiles could escape and get the kidnapped pack of teenage werewolves they’d been sent to rescue to safety.

 

But of course, Theo had stayed behind as a distraction, allowing Monroe to get the upper hand on him just long enough for Stiles to complete the mission.  When Stiles had finally doubled back, he found her with a machete in her hands, standing over an unconscious Theo, tied helplessly to a chair.

 

Stiles shot her without hesitation.

 

By the time Scott had called Stiles to tell him that Theo was going to be okay, Stiles had been pulled back to Virginia for desk work, for an undetermined amount of time.

 

Just over year later, Stiles only having seen the pack on Christmas do to being busy with office work at Quantico, Theo was sent to Mexico to meet Stiles on a vampire-run drug ring bust.  Their first real conversation since Monroe’s death was stilted. Like they were strangers once again.

 

Not pack.

 

It's been that way ever since.

 

Stiles pulls himself from his memories and frowns at Theo’s hunched form as he continues, “You know… The first time we were on a stakeout together, you were absolutely delighted by my company.”

 

“Yeah.  And you couldn't stand mine, so…”  Theo heaves a large sigh as he taps his phone steadily.  He sits up a little straighter, but he doesn't look up from the game.  “I'm here. I'm doing exactly what you asked. As usual. I wouldn't have agreed to put myself through this just to do a shit job of it.”

 

“Put yourself through what?  Being in a car with me?” Stiles scoffs.

 

“Look, can you just not do this to me, okay?”  Theo grits his teeth. “I know it's hard to believe, but like... I really do want to help, even if it means being trapped in here with someone who hates me.”

 

Stiles mouth gapes like a fish, baffled at the last few words as he watches Theo tap angrily at his phone.

 

“So, please, Stiles.”  Theo’s voice drops lower, sounding defeated.  “Please... just don't make this harder on me.”

 

“Theo, I don’t- “

 

“Shut up, I hear something.”  Theo cuts Stiles’ indignant reply off sharply.  He turns his phone off, shoving it in his pocket.  He leans forward in his seat, staring at the dashboard, his brow furrowed.  His eyes open and he glances toward Stiles, face grim. “There's two voices.  A man and a woman. They're yelling at each other. I think… I think they're speaking Portuguese?”

 

“How do you know what Portu- You know what, just… keep doing your listen-y thing.” Stiles’ face scrunches into an amazed and exasperated expression that has Theo rolling his eyes and straining to hear again.

 

“Stiles. There's a third voice.”  Theo hisses. “They know we’re here.”

 

Theo’s eyes lock with Stiles’ in alarm.  The young FBI agent goes to start the car until the chimera’s hand jolts out and grabs his hand before it can press the start.

 

“Stiles, wait.  Wait!” Confusion spreads over Theo’s face as he stares at the human.  “I think… **_no it is_**.  One of the voices is Derek.”

 

“Derek  **_Hale_ ** ?”  Stiles’ eyes fly wide open, voice choking around the name.  He looks toward the warehouse as Theo moves to exit the car.  “Theo, what-”

 

When the door shuts behind Theo, Stiles climbs out as well, drawing his gun.

 

“Theo.”  Stiles whispers frantically and the chimera walks calmly toward the warehouse door.  Stiles hunches, instinctively going to give him cover fire if needed. “What's going on?!”

 

“They're tied up in the building, Derek said something to his sister that had your name in it and the other person spoke.  In english… ” Theo explains, not keeping his voice down at all at this point. “It was Chris Argent. He yelled,  _ ‘Liam, Theo, Alec, whoever the hell's with Stiles, could you please come untie us before the idiot witches get back.’ _ ”

 

Stiles’ jaw drops and he lowers his gun to a less but still protective draw.  He follows Theo into the building and down into the basement, where they find Derek, Cora and Chris all hanging from a fence.

 

Theo and Stiles stare at them for a moment, the only sound a small “thank god” from Chris.

 

“Jesus.”  Stiles breathes out, looking Derek in the eye as Theo goes to try and help Chris down first.  “How does this always happen to you?”

 

“Good to see you too, dickbag, now get us down.”  Cora shouts, snarling at the human she hadn't seen in person for several years.

 

“Cora, my darling.  Missed you. You haven't been returning my skype calls.”  Stiles grins at her, deliberately moving to help Derek first.  “Theo will be with you in a moment.”

 

Theo reaches for the restraints, wincing slightly, but showing little other reaction to the wolfsbane covered cuffs.

 

“Ah, so you're the evil one.”  Cora grins down at Theo, who smiles sadly, the words clearly rubbing him the wrong way.  She hums softly. “You're not nearly as funny as Stiles always says you are.”

 

Theo looks up at her, startled, then back at Stiles, who apparently hadn't heard the grumbled words.  He continues extracting the born werewolf from her confines, helping her right herself when she was done.

 

“Thank you,  _ Theo. _ ”  Cora coos.  She lowers her voice again, looking over at her brother and Stiles briefly before whispering conspiratorially.  “You are, however, every bit as hunky as I've heard.”

 

Theo, following her gaze, sees Derek fight a smile as Stiles looks over his wrist wounds.

 

“Let's speed this up, yeah?”  Chris pants, approaching Derek, looking at his wounds with Stiles, the werewolf batting them both away in frustration.

 

“Alright, well that's a bit of an issue, as the witches have seen Stiles’ FBI car.  Wait. I know that voice.” Theo growls, shifting. He looks to Stiles, unimpressed.  “You didn't think to share that one of these women was your ex?”

 

“Shit.  Abigail.  Oh, you're  _ sooo _ anxious to blame me, aren't you?  I didn't know it was her, I haven't seen her in years, and we only went on like four dates.  I just had a mild suspicion, which I didn't tell you about because you always hated her.” Stiles squints at Theo, drawing his gun again and heading for the door.  The chimera stalks after him, fangs and claws out.

 

“I don't blame you, you asshole, but if you're going to call me in for this shit, knowing I can't ever fucking say no to you, than you at least owe me all the details!”  Theo says, following Stiles’ crouched form toward the door they’d entered through.

 

“What do you mean, you can't ever-”

 

“Stiles!  Theo!” Derek growls, stepping ahead of them.  “Not the time!”

 

Chris yanks the spare gun out of Stiles’ waistband, causing the human to yelp, but before he can say anything in protest, Chris is dragging Theo away forcefully by the arm and Derek is motioning for Stiles to follow his lead.

 

The young FBI agent draws his primary gun from its holster, frowning about the second weapon that had been so easily pilfered from his back. Cora follows behind them, claws drawn, already growling.

 

“Stiles, I can't believe you got us kidnapped.I can't believe you're the reason I got dragged back into this hellhole country.”  She smacks the back of Stiles’ head as Derek stands at the door, listening, clearly waiting for something. Cora flexes her almost healed wrists and grumbles under her breath.  “It's bad enough I had to travel the past like… seven months with these douchebags being all gross and in love-”

 

“Are you-”  Stiles gasps, looking to Derek in surprise and excitement at the juicy gossip Cora had just gifted him with.  “You're banging Argent?!”

 

“ _ Not.  The. Time _ .”  Derek grunts, not looking back at his sister and pack member.  His head shoots up, clearly hearing what he was waiting for. He grabbed Stiles, shoving him out the door first.  “Let's go deal with your crazy ex-girlfriend.”

 

Stiles stumbles out into the empty lot, quickly regaining his footing and aiming at the two familiar witches who stood in front of him.

 

“Abigail.  Annabelle.”  Stiles nods at them.  They smirk back at Stiles and the werewolves flanking him.  They raise their hands and start to chant, their eyes glowing a bright purple.  Instantly, Cora and Derek start whining, dropping to their knees in pain. “Now, now, that feels a bit uncalled for.  I'm not sure why you decided to kidnap my friends, but if it was me you wanted, I'm right here, ladies.”

 

Annabelle continues chanting, but Abigail frowns and stalks toward Stiles, stepping out of the large mountain ash circle they had been chanting in.

 

“I don't want you, Stiles.”  Abigail says, her voice dripping with venom.  “But I do want to destroy these people who mean so much to you.  Your pack. Just like you destroyed the thing we loved most in the world.”

 

“What are you talking about?”  Stiles’ eyebrows tilt in genuine confusion and he tries not to look at the glowing eyes that have appeared behind Annabelle.

 

“I'm talking about how you and that half breed abomination boyfriend of yours killed our big sister!”  Abigail roared, her eyes turning into large purple flames, something that Stiles had never seen in his years of supernatural escapades.

 

“I didn't even know you had a older sister and I haven't seen anyone in your family for years, Abi!”  Stiles holds his hands out calmly. “I think you have this all wrong. We don't kill supernaturals, we arrest them.  And put them in a big old shiny supernatural jail.”

 

“Not Tamora!”  Abigail’s voice booms through the empty lot and suddenly Annabelle is screeching, Theo having stepped through her protective circle to tackle her, restraining her so that she couldn't keep casting whatever spell was incapacitating the Hale wolves.

 

“Tamora?  What- Theo!”  Stiles’ face falls as he watches Abigail roar, enraged at Theo’s actions.  She puts her hands up, and Stiles panics as she starts chanting. He starts to run toward them, but suddenly Cora and Derek are holding Stiles down to the ground as smoke grenades explode around them and he hears the familiar shot of what mistr be his own tranq rifle go off once and then twice.

 

He's scrambling to get off the asphalt and makes his way through the smoke, yelling out Theo’s name.

 

“Stiles!”  Theo’s holding him by the biceps, his eyes glowing yellow as he stares in confusion at the worried FBI agent in front of him.  “Stiles, it's fine. It's over. They're out.”

 

Theo lets Stiles’ arms go and the human shakes as he turns and sees Argent jogging toward them, rifle from Stiles’ trunk in hand.  Derek and Cora are walking gingerly through the clearing smoke toward them as well. He watches Chris looks them over, eyes widening as he runs a gentle hand through Derek’s hair and hugging him tightly before embracing both of the Hales.

 

“Stiles, everyone's fine.”  Theo’s voice brings Stiles’ attention back to him.  Stiles heart beats hard as the vision of Abigail turning to hurt Theo runs over and over in his mind, overlapping with visions of Monroe standing over Theo’s almost lifeless body.

 

“God, Theo, I thought I was gonna lose you again.”  Stiles breathes out, eyes running over Theo’s form for any sign of injury.  When he found none, he looked back up into the other man’s eyes.

 

“Lose me?”  Theo whispers in confusion taking a step back.

 

“I just kept seeing you tied to that fucking chair, and I couldn't think-”  Stiles chokes, his eyes itching as he starts to get anxious. “I couldn't handle the thought of losing you, not after I'd almost lost you before.”

 

“You actually…”  Theo shakes his head, still wracked with confusion.  “You actually care?”

 

“Of  _ course _ I fucking  _ care! _ ”  Stiles screeches, almost hyperventilating.  “You're like… the most important person in my life, Theo!”

 

“You mean you don't resent me for having feelings for you?”  Theo asks, vulnerability clouding his expression.

 

Stiles’ jaw drops and he blinks.

 

“I thought you just put up with me and how in love with you I was because I did a good job.  I kept you safe and I always had your back. When you didn't come to see me after… you know...”  Theo scowls at the ground. “I thought you were mad at me. I thought you blamed me for her… for what you had to do… for me.  You didn't ask for my help as much anymore, so I thought you didn't want to be around me.”

 

“I sent you flowers while you were… And I didn't hear from you either!  I didn't know you wanted to hear from me! I thought you were just doing all this stuff for me all the time because I was pack.”  Stiles flails, blinking in shock. “You've never once acted like you had any interest in me!”

 

“I would always do anything for you Stiles!  That night, I was giving my life to protect those kids because that was what was most important to you!”

 

“You do that, though, Theo!”  Stiles cries in frustration. “You always do that.  You would do that for everyone in the pack. You're the first to jump in the line of fire to protect all of us, and that's why I couldn't let you die that night.  I  _ need _ to be the one who protects  _ you _ !  That's why I went back.  That's why I killed her!”

 

Theo’s head rears back and he stares at Stiles, surprise and concern etched across his features.

 

“I didn't even know for sure if you were still alive, Theo, but I saw her standing there in front of you and I pulled the trigger without hesitation.  Because I  _ needed _ you to be okay.”

 

Stiles is panting.  He's never talked to anyone in the pack about that night.  Not even Scott, thought the alpha had told him months after that he understood why Stiles did it.

 

Saying it out loud to Theo, the man he’d been so willing to kill and die for…

 

It gives him a strange sense of relief.  Catharsis, even, over an event he hadn't realized he was so at peace with and comfortable speaking about.

 

“It was the right call.”  Stiles smiles at Theo. “I've done all the psych follow up like a good little federal agent.  And it wasn't anger. I just  _ needed _ to protect you, whether it was too late or not, it was just instinct.  You're… it's like-”

 

Stiles takes a small step forward, like he’s itching to grab Theo, but his twitching hands stay at his side.

 

“I know you're not FBI, but you were my partner, Theo.  I  _ needed _ you.  I needed you to be okay.”

 

The air around them is thick and Theo feels like he's going to choke on the tension.  He hasn't felt like this in ages. Like there's a chance that after all these years, Stiles finally loves him back.

 

“Fuck it.”  Theo exhales, taking a step forward and reaching up to curl fingers into Stiles’ neatly coiffed hair.  “Please don't punch me."

 

And then he's kissing Stiles.

 

Stiles is kissing him back.

 

They're kissing…  each other.

 

**_Weird_ ** .

 

It's angry, but it's  **_not_ ** .  It's more... just... desperate.

 

It's awkward, like it was never meant to actually happen, despite how much they'd danced around each other in the past 4 years of overnight assignments and despite how desperately they'd silently ached for each other’s company in the year that Stiles was grounded.

 

Stiles bites at Theo’s lip when the chimera  tries to pull back, resulting in growl and a deeper, raunchier drag of lips and tongues, Theo giving everything he knows how, clinging to any hope of getting exactly what he’s fantasized about for so long.

 

“Mm, no.  Wait, Theo,  _ wait _ .”  Stiles mumbles into the other man’s lips, despite the fact that he's the one who is finding it impossible to pull away.

 

When Theo stops kissing him, Stiles sees him drop down onto his heels and his eyes light up.  No matter how much more important other subjects are, he finds himself distracted to a point of futility.

 

“Were you just on your tippy toes?"  Stiles whispers, his voice saturated with unbridled delight.

 

Theo scoffs and shakes his head, backing up a step as he huffs out an indignant "no."

 

Stiles laughs.  Theo blushes and crosses his arms defensively.  He looks down, disappointed.

 

"That's actually adorable.  Do it again."

 

Theo gazes up at Stiles through his lashes.

 

“You're serious?”

 

Stiles doesn't answer, instead he grabs Theo by the waist and draws him in, molding their lips and bodies together like puzzle pieces that snap with relief after searching for their other half for too long.

 

Theo buries a hand onto Stiles’ still perfectly styled hair, wanting to mess it up so that he doesn't look so goddamn handsome.  And if he tilts up onto the tips of his toes again to get a better angle, he doesn't quite notice, because he’s kissing the man he’s wanted more than anything as long as he can remember, and he’s almost positive that this won't be the last time.

 

“This is awkward.”  Cora’s amused voice causes the two men to pull apart as if burned.

 

She’s standing near them, a snickering Derek and Chris a few yards in the distance near Stiles’ FBI vehicle.

 

“I gotta move that body, Stilinski.  Don't thank me for doing your job for you or anything while you finally get your man.”  She steps toward them and reaches down, alerting them both to the fact they're making out just inches away from the unconscious form of the witch who’d just tried to murder Theo.

 

“Oh my god, I have to call this in.”  Stiles starts to pull his phone out, but he looks up at Theo one more time, grinning quickly.  “Come home with me? After this? And we can talk.”

 

Stiles walks away without a response, but Theo calls out after him.

 

“Alright, I'll be over here calling Scott and telling him that your dumb ass dated Monroe’s sister while Monroe was trying to kill us!”  Theo winces as Stiles turns around and stares at him in dramatic offense. “Too soon? Yeah, sorry, that's probably too soon, my bad.”

 

Cora cackles from the ground as she heaves the knocked out witch onto her shoulder in a fireman carry.

 

“I was wrong.”  Cora grins at Theo and Stiles.  “You  _ are _ hilarious.”

 

She walks away toward Stiles’ vehicle and Stiles rolls his eyes, following behind her.

 

Theo heaves a large breath of relief, shaking his head like he can't believe anything that's happened in the last hour.

 

He follows behind the group, pulling his phone out to wait for the official report to before.

 

He opens his game and starts the next level, trying to stop himself from grinning madly.

 

He has a reputation to uphold after all.


End file.
